A recent study from scientists at Harvard University suggests that planting trees in temperate regions such as Europe and North America could have unanticipated affects on the world’s climate. Continue reading
Latest Entries
Conflict elephant evades “death sentence”
The Wildlife Trust of India, an NGO with which UBoC is co-ordinating a project, have reported on the successful relocation of a recently captured elephant. Continue reading
Controversy over changes to Brazil’s Forestry Code continues
A final vote in the Brazilian House of Representatives, over controversial changes to their forestry code, has been postponed until March 2012. In early December, the Senate agreed to approve the new code, but 70 amendments are still to be voted on before agreement is sought from President Dilma Rousseff.
Straight Goes from Strength to Strength
It’s great to see one of our project sponsors, recycling group Straight plc, continuing to lead the way – this time by agreeing a collaborative partnership with one of the UK’s best known brands of garden products, Stewart. Continue reading
Solar power, deforestation and climate change
Access to sustainable sources of energy is a major challenge for poverty alleviation and forest conservation across the tropics. In Africa more than 650 million people live without access to electricity. Lack of electricity and a continued reliance on wood and charcoal for energy not only causes health problems and deprives people of opportunities for education but is an ongoing cause of deforestation. In many parts of Africa the collection of fuel wood for cooking and heating is the leading cause of forest loss and degradation. Providing sustainable energy to remote rural communities is the focus of a UBoC project in Tanzania run by the Tongwe Trust and Fauna and Flora International. With support from Premier Farnell the project has provided solar fridges for the storage of vaccines in local village dispensaries. The next exciting stage of this project will start in the New Year (more information available shortly). Meanwhile researchers at the University of Leeds have studied how projected changes to climate over the coming century will impact the amount of electricity generated by solar power.
Plans for Dam Withdrawn
I was delighted to learn this week that the Brazilian construction company planning to build one of the dams on Ashaninka land in the Peruvian Amazon has withdrawn from the project saying that it will ‘respect the opinion of local populations’ . The Bettys and Taylor/UBoC project with The Rainforest Foundation UK has played a key role in this decision through its work with Central Ashaninka del Rio Ene (CARE), helping to make the voice of indigenous communities heard. Continue reading
Google Earth video shows how Dams are bad for Climate Change
See articles here where Philip Fearnside explains how Dams in the rainforest emit tonnes of methane from rotting plant matter
How good are China’s new forests for the climate?
During the last decade, roughly 13 million hectares of forest were lost through deforestation each year; this is a reduction from the 16 million hectares deforested annually in the 1990s, but is still an alarmingly high amount. However, the net change in forested area for the same period was a loss of only 5.2 million hectares per year; reflecting the significant amount of natural forest recovery and deliberate afforestation that has occurred. Continue reading
UBoC Sponsor is Yorkshire Post Winner
Well done to one of our project sponsors, Premier Farnell who was recognized this week in the Yorkshire Post Excellence in Business Awards as the winner of the large company category. Continue reading
Forest carbon projects trade $178 million in 2010
Forest carbon projects set records in 2010, trading $178 million for 30.1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e). This is nearly a 50% increase over 2009 which was itself a record breaking year. The large surge in the forest carbon market was driven largely by Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) projects. Continue reading
